Up the River
by Chris000
Summary: One shot challenge story - Sally finds herself in a position where she needs to save a friend from certain death in an icy cold river while avoiding detection by Robotnik's forces. Takes place within the Chaos Chronicles universe.


Up the River  
C.R.V.

Frandello Alps, Mobius  
3235

"_I'm going to need some help over here!_"

The radio crackled in the fresh alpine air. Sally recognized the call on the radio. It was the Lieutenant. She stopped her own jeep and immediately looked around to see if it was safe to respond. Satisfied, she hit the radio. "What happened?"

"_That last robot strafing run put me in… well, let's say a bit of a bind_."

Sally reversed the UNSC jeep and headed back the way she came, which was back in the directions that those drone bombers ruined their day. She assumed that Chris had made it through the attack. Guess it showed that to err is Human. "Where are you at? I can't see your jeep!"

"_Well, you're not going to see it any time soon! I'm at the bottom of the river!_"

"_The bottom of the river?!_" the Mobian repeated in horror. "Where?"

"_That's the thing, I didn't get a good look! Hurry it up, Sal! Windshield's broken! I'm taking on water!_"

She gunned it over a hill, giving some shrubbery some trimming of a lifetime. She constantly found herself oversteering the military recon vehicle. Sally was not the strongest driver in the universe, but right now, the determination to save her Human friend was more important than being a safe driver. She wasn't about to have it on her conscience.

"Remember, Human! What did you see?! Rocks, a bend, trees?"

Chris' voice was much more quickened now. He was getting scared. "_Yeah yeah yeah! There was a bend in the river! Bending right I think! There was a pine tree maybe twenty feet tall! I would be grateful if you put the pedal to the metal!_"

"Don't panic, you'll lose air faster!"

"_Hey, I'm a two time vac! I know all about losing oxygen_!"

Typical Chris, make jokes to keep his stress down. Though he needed anything to take his mind off of potentially drowning.

Sally swerved quickly to avoid a sheer drop of eighty feet onto a bed of rather pointy looking rocks. She cautiously watched the skies to make sure those robots weren't coming back to look for the driver of this vehicle."

"_Sierra Actual, what's your status? Requesting Sitrep._"

It was Overlord, their eye in the sky. "Overlord, I have a man down, but he's alive for the time being. Request you help me pin his location at the bottom of a river."

"_Good copy. Stand by for NAVPOINT_."

A blue inverted triangle appeared in her HUD.

"_Be advised, those craft are on a return vector. ETA five minutes until the next flyover_."

"Damn it!" She cursed. "Come on!" She willed the jeep to go faster.

As if God Himself tuned the engine as they rolled, the jeep had a burst of speed that wasn't there before. It must have been a nice incline. She spotted the river directly to her right and drove up next to it, making sure to avoid trees that got in her way. She dodged five, but on the sixth, her rear fender hit a trunk and spun out, treading water as the front tires kicked up stones from the shore.

"_I'm having some third grade flashbacks._"

"Don't die on me Human! Not today!"

"_Don't tell me! Tell that to mister Dihydrogen Monoxide!_"

Her own cabin wasn't the big. Depending on the leak, she could have anywhere as large as 20 minutes to as little as 5. "I'm a hundred meters away! Get ready for a little rescue operation, Lieutenant!"

"_Am I the damsel here?_"

"Guess that makes me the knight in shining battle armor."

She saw the top of the recon jeep's tires poking above the top of the water. Good, that meant that the river wasn't that deep. The bad news was that there was a current that would be difficult to fight through.

"_Oh mama!_"

"What? What happened?!" She shouted getting out of the car.

"_Rolling stone just clipped the windshield! Gotta prize-winning crack!_"

"They're still around?"

"_Leave the corny humor to me._" Chris groaned.

Sally waded into the water, letting the freezing cold surface lap over her boots and splash against her pant legs. She shivered. "God n' Aurora!"

"_What was that_?"

"Nothing!" She said more to herself, "Alright, Sally Girl. Just a dip in the pool. Just a dip in the pool… in January…!" She threw herself into the water. The feeling was overwhelming. She gasped in shock as the cold water embraced her. Immediately the current grabbed her and tried to pull her away. She fought it with all her might.

"_Sierra, be advised, those bandits are incoming now!_"

She had to think fast. Sally took a deep breath and plunged into the water. She found the body of the overturned jeep and waited and hoped the robots ran out of patience before she ran out of breath. Overhead, three orange-red fightercraft rocketed and circled over the area looking for life signs.

Sally stood as still as the current would let her. She was already starting to run short of breath. She found herself looking into the driver-side window of the vehicle. She could make the Lieutenant out, still strapped to his seat, trapped. The water was nearly up to his eyes. He saw her and tried to slam on the window, but nothing worked. He was starting to panic, something that he was not well known for. Sally couldn't do anything though while the robot flyers were waiting. She heard a thump and a crack. Another rock had slammed into the windshield, and a new crack formed. Chris banged even harder on the glass.

Her lungs were on fire. She glanced upwards and got water up her nose for her troubles. Robotnik's fighters were gone. They had avoided being spotted. The drones, content in completing their mission, fled back to base. She surfaced.

The first thing she did was suck in cold alpine air and exhale it quickly, nearly swallowing more water, but she had an idea. "This thing still work?"

"_What the hell is happening?!_"

"I have an idea! Hang tight!"

"_I'm running out of movement! I'm going to be a fish in a minute!" _

Sally moved her jeep closer and went to the front of it. It had a winch coiled on the bumper. She pulled the cord and jumped back into the water, this time adjusting to the near-freezing temperature much easier. She found the front of Chris' jeep by pulling herself over the body, and she hooked the winch on a solid spot. Sally pulled herself to the driver side window and tapped on it to get the Human's attention. He turned around, inverted.

"We good?" She heard him through the glass, eyes dipping below the water.

She gave him the thumbs up and pulled herself out of the water once more. This time, she was ready to save her Human. "Dammit that water's cold! Hey, hold your breath!"

"_Why?_"

"Just in case!" She jumped back in the jeep and put it in reverse. "I hope this works…" She slammed on the accelerator and shot backwards. At first, nothing, but after a few seconds of willing the hunk of titanium, carbon nanotubes, and steel to move, the vehicle shifted. It was working!

"_Keep doing more of that! I don't want to be an aquarium piece!_"

She responded by tugging again. This time, the jeep moved more, and with one more burst, it not only was pulled out of the river, but flipped on some rocks wedged in the shore. She slammed the wheel in triumph. "YES!"

"_Aw hell…_"

"What?" She asked, still giddy with success.

"_I'm all wet…_" she heard the young man say over the radio.

"Oh shut up. You know nothing of wet."

She got out of the jeep, sopping wet all over the short mountain grass and went to the driver's door. Now out of the water, it opened easily. Chris sat there, bound to his seat, hat dripping wet, and shivering, either in fear or cold. Probably both.

"Can you help me out?" The young Lieutenant asked. "I lost my knife."

Sally nodded with a smile on her face and pulled out her own blade, cutting through the seatbelt, freeing him. The Lieutenant stumbled out of the seat, and stood shivering, but reveling in the sunlight. "Oh man, that feels good."

Sally's arms shot around him, pulling him into a hug, something that clearly surprised him. "Ho!" he grunted out of shock. "Hey, watch the ribs…"

She didn't care. She almost lost a friend that day, and besides, ribs healed.

Before she said anything, he hugged her back. "Thanks, Sal. Not ready to go yet."

She wondered if it was water dripping from her face, or something else.

"That was embarrassing." She said finally chuckling.

"Don't tell anybody, OK?"

"_We expect a report after this, Actual._" Overlord chimed in.

"Aw to hell with it." Chris groaned. "Overlord, give me a status update."

"_Bandits have exited the AO. Likely they assumed you and Sierra were KIA. Dropship inbound for you, ETA seven minutes_. _Confirm possession of hostile Intel. Do you have the data?_"

Chris smirked and reached into a sealed pouch on his chest armor. He pulled out a red and orange data stick. "Oh we have it. Confirming possession of primary objective."

"_Acknowledged Actual. Mission accomplished; see you starside. Overlord out_."

With that, silence enveloped this otherwise calm mountainside grassy hill. The water was roaring over the rocks, birds were singing, and the sun was shining through the thin air. Sally made her way to her jeep and sat on the hood. Chris stuffed the data stick back in his pouch and made his way there as well, slipping onto the hood next to the Mobian.

"Hey."

"Hey." She said back to him, grinning. "Thought I was going to lose you."

"I thought so too." He said seriously. "I owe you."

"Nah, we're going to be going back and forth like this for a while, I know it." She let the wind blow at her hair, slowly drying her clothes. "I was scared for you, you know that."

"I guess you were." He looked at his battered car. "Thank you, Sally."

"You're welcome, and you always are. You're not getting off that easy, Human." She suddenly started laughing. "Can you imagine if Sonic was here?"

"Actually I can. I'd be dead for sure!"

They both laughed heartily, the only ones for dozens of miles around.

"You're my Human. I'd do anything for a friend like you."

"And you are my boss. I'm no good to you dead!"

She laughed again. She really liked the fact that he could still laugh.

"Look, there they are." Chris pointed to the sky where two black dots were getting closer. Chris slid off the hood and walked to the jeep's side, pulling a flare out of a container near the dash. He twisted the top and threw it on the ground. Bright red smoke rose into the sky. Slowly, the dots came closer, soon becoming the dropships.

Sally was smiling, and the Human noticed it. "What?"

"It's just so funny when you think about it." She said making eye contact. We turned the classic on its head."

"What's that?" He said, waving the ships in for a landing. Just before the wheels hit the dirt, Sally spoke again.

"Looks like you didn't save me, but I saved you. This time, it looks like the princess just rescued the knight!"


End file.
